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This was the real main event (image courtesy of bleacherreport.com)WrestleMania has accrued a lot of success in 15 years and the company was at its very best with loads of star power and the brand image stretching across the globe. The company honed their talent very well and the fans were going crazy with all the weekly and monthly programming.WWF presented the fans the 16th annual WrestleMania event under the name WrestleMania 2000 and there were high expectations of kicking off the new decade with a bang. The event was presented by Snickers and took place on April 2, 2000, at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. With all this said, let us have a look at top 5 matches from the PPV:
#5 Hardcore Holly wins the Battle Royal
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The second match of the night was a Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship. Crash Holly went into the match as the champion. The match would last for 15 minutes and there could be any number of title changes in the duration of the match.
The final man to remain Champion after 15 minutes would become the new champ. The title changed hands 10 times during the time limit and it was Hardcore Holly who won it at 14:20 and retained it in the last 40 seconds thus becoming the new Hardcore Champion.
#4 Rikishi/Kane vs. DX
Rikishi and Kane teamed up to face DX (X-Pac and Road Dogg) in a tag team match. During the initial moments, Rikishi delivered a Diamond Cutter to X-Pac and immediately Kane proceeded with a Tombstone Piledriver into a pinfall for the win.
Kane was accompanied by Paul Bearer in this match that lasted only for 4 minutes. After the match, Kane delivered a Chokeslam to Pete Rose who tried to attack the Demon with a baseball bat.
The chemistry between Rikishi and Kane was interesting here as these guys hadn’t teamed up that often in the WWE.
#3 Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho
Losing a title at WrestleMania is something one doesn’t wish for. If that happens twice in the same night, that would be a nightmare!
Kurt Angle lost two titles at WM 16 - IC title and European title. Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were involved in a 2 out of 3 falls match and Jericho won the European title in the first fall and Benoit won the IC title in the 2nd fall leaving Angle empty handed at the end of the night.
This is the only time in the history where a superstar lost both his titles on the same night.
#2 Edge/Christian vs. Dudley Boys vs. Hardy Boyz
The WrestleMania 16 triple threat tag team match remains a classic WWE encounter. Three teams competed for the titles in a ladders match; the Dudley Boys, the Hardy Boys and Edge and Christian. This was a very physical match. Edge and Christian were decimated by their opponents with ladders.
Edge speared Jeff in mid air and that is probably the best spear ever in WWE. They managed to climb the ladder and grab the titles and went on to become one of the greatest tag team champions in WWE history. This was the first WrestleMania appearance for Edge and he really made it big on the grand stage. Suffice to say this was a turning point in Edge’s career.
#1 The Rock vs. Triple H
The match we’re are talking about here was of epic proportions. Triple H defended his WWF title against 3 men - The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show. The entire McMahon family was involved in this match. Triple H had the backing of his wife, Stephanie whereas Vince supported The Rock. Linda McMahon stood by the side of Foley and Shane McMahon watched Big Show’s back.
This was a Fatal 4-way Elimination Match and the last one to get a pinfall would be the winner. The match lasted for 36 minutes but Big Show’s presence was only for a meagre 5 minutes.
He was eliminated by The Rock and the match soon converted into an elimination triple threat. Mick Foley was the second one to be eliminated when he was pinned by Triple H 19 minutes into the match. This left Rock and Triple H fighting one-on-one for the gold. Vince turned heel and attacked Rock with a steel chair, thus allowing Triple H to capitalize and grab a win.
